Update for the new general use shelter areas:
And more still being finished:
And more still being finished:
Volcano Bay: General Discussion
- Thread starter Parkscope Joe
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- Mar 16, 2010
- 11,087
- 2,883
Rented a private cabana at Volcano Bay last week and figured I'd share some insight on my experience.
The Good
The cabanas themselves are beautiful and offer a great escape during your busy and fun filled day at Volcano Bay. However they come at an extreme premium price which if everything is working can be justified, but in my case not everything did work nor was the service acceptable for that premium. If you were to ask me if I would spend the money again to get the exact same experience and my answer would be a 100% no. Its unfortunate too cause I've been looking forward to this for sometime but from my experience I would not recommend the cabanas at Volcano Bay.
The Good
- The ability to have a base camp where all of your stuff is laid out and secure with shade is something that should never go under the radar. In an all day water park gauntlet being able to report back to base to relax is nothing to overlook.
- The cabana has bottled water, a fridge, a locker, towels, a ceiling fan, and music controls which may sort of seem insignificant based on price but all of these came in clutch during our stay. That ceiling fan is the real MVP
- The Tapu Tapu access point is great (when it works, more on that below) and gives you the ability to stand in line without leaving the shaded home base. Given the amount of walking you can do at VB this is huge.
- Concierge is the final key ingredient to an overall amazing experience. Service while slow for food was okay for drinks, but the positive attitude makes up for that.
- For those who have kids and are on the fence do it! The ability to have a tranquil area where you can put your shades up offers your little ones the ability to take that mid day nap to keep you going well into later park hours. My four year old who goes to all kinds of parks with us really enjoyed "her space" to play with toys, take her time eating her food, and then figure out what she wants to do next before ever stepping foot outside the cabana.
- For those who may be curious about road noise or if your on a ground level your neighbors above you'll be glad to know we never even knew either were there. We heard one honk and that was from a Universal service road where some guy was acting like an idiot. We never heard the people above us and they had 3 boys who were all over the place lol.
- The day started off a little rough.... When we arrived at VB we had to buy tickets for two. We also checked in (or so we thought) to our cabana. The lady after a few minutes found our reservation and she drew a picture of where we had to go to check into our cabana. See where I'm going with this.. Anyways we walked to the hut she drew a line on a map to. We got there and then waited in line. When it was our turn the lady told us we were in the wrong place.. HUH? Yeah the lady at the front of the park sent us to the wrong check in so now we gotta truck it to the other side of the park. We finally found our spot, checked in again and were taken to our cabana. So from the moment we got to the park entrance to actually sitting down in our cabana took nearly an hour. Not very convenient imo and our biggest issue was we had a handicap family member in our party.
- Took nearly an hour to get our food and the park was not that busy
- The only way to place and order for food or drinks was to put up a flag to signal to them we needed something. So thing was if your waitress didn't come by for a while you were out of luck. With all the tech in this park why not have a page button to let your waiter/waitress know you need something?
- One of the biggest benefits of getting the cabana is being able to have your own Tapu Tapu access point in the cabana and was one of the key selling points for us to go ahead an lock it up and shell out the big bucks. Well.. about 4-4.5 hours into our day our Tapu Tapu station froze and stopped working. We notified our waitress who said she would send someone. An hour later no one had came and we told her no one did so she said I'll try again, this time two young guys walk over look at it and say oh its frozen we will have to send over a manager. Manager never came. The solution we were given was to walk all the way over the concierge each and every time we wanted to ride something and they would check us in. Yeah would you think thats acceptable after dropping hundreds of dollars? I didn't.. I didn't get a chance to take it up with the guest services cause I had to make an unexpected trip to the ER for our 2 year old... He's fine btw and totally unrelated to any of this. Upon returning to Cabana Bay I wrote a formal complaint about our issue and that was 5 days ago with no word yet from Universal.
The cabanas themselves are beautiful and offer a great escape during your busy and fun filled day at Volcano Bay. However they come at an extreme premium price which if everything is working can be justified, but in my case not everything did work nor was the service acceptable for that premium. If you were to ask me if I would spend the money again to get the exact same experience and my answer would be a 100% no. Its unfortunate too cause I've been looking forward to this for sometime but from my experience I would not recommend the cabanas at Volcano Bay.
Great writeup. I’m curious which concierge hut you were turned away from at checkin? I’ve checked in for seating in Wave at River Before with no problem.
- Feb 28, 2016
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- Jan 4, 2017
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I guess if these are anything other than “Ride Now”, this can help manage the queue for each set of slides.
Nope, but we shouldn’t be looking at the expansion area until September at least. The expansion won’t take long to build.
- Jun 21, 2016
- 3,802
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I never put mine or families stuff in lockers. And that includes when we’re at six flag’s hurricane harbor!
I relegate all items we bring to cheap flip flops, towels, and a bag. And usually a refillable cheap plastic throwaway cup apiece.
Cell phone, sunglasses and room key I keep on me and just throw in a pocket prior to riding a ride.
Basically- only leave out what you’re ok getting stolen. Me? The risk is worth it since everything I leave there might be worth $10, max.
These are awesome! For those interested- Bambu will be the best location for them- but not an incredible view.
Taniwa tubes will have the worst view, but a better location than Waturi.
Waturi will have the best view, but be the furthest away from everything. But if you’re a “wave pool only” type person, that’d be the one to get.
So on a scale of 1 to 3, 1 being the best:
Waturi Marketplace: 1 View, 3 Location. Score of 4.
Bambu: 2 View, 1 Location. Score of 3.
Taniwa Tubes: 3 View, 2 Location. Score of 5.
When you get into the park and you get to the volcano reveal. Make a sharp left and follow that path and you’ll hit all 3 locations.
Keep in mind, this is the opposite direction if trying to hit Krakatau first thing. So if trying to do both- send your “runner” I.e.- me, with my long legs and ability to carry all items like an ant- to go grab those locations and then meet up with rest of the party at Krakatau. Rest of the party heads right at reveal.
If you mean for Kala & Tai Nui slides, it is currently at 270 lbs.
Saw a couple of new developments at VB this week:
1) There is a permanent, green structure that appears to be a quick-service place (across from Wave Village East restrooms, near the Waturi Marketplace). No name at this time, but it does have a menu posted on the side.
2) Krakatoa Katy’s (gift shop) - they are adding at least two photo viewing stations to the photo viewing area. The screens say "Coming Soon."
3) Near the Wave Village West restrooms, they have added a People Dryer, near the smoking section.
1) There is a permanent, green structure that appears to be a quick-service place (across from Wave Village East restrooms, near the Waturi Marketplace). No name at this time, but it does have a menu posted on the side.
2) Krakatoa Katy’s (gift shop) - they are adding at least two photo viewing stations to the photo viewing area. The screens say "Coming Soon."
3) Near the Wave Village West restrooms, they have added a People Dryer, near the smoking section.
Excited to be going for my second trip to VB in September. What is the status on using the tubes on the fast (non lazy) river? Is it still just life vests?
Saw another update in the park!
They have added entertainment near Whakawaiwai Eats (near Krakatau Aqua Coaster). Musicians and hula dancers. They should be around till the end of summer. I think their sets are done in the early afternoon, unless they packed up early due to the weather.
That is correct. :thumbsup:
They have added entertainment near Whakawaiwai Eats (near Krakatau Aqua Coaster). Musicians and hula dancers. They should be around till the end of summer. I think their sets are done in the early afternoon, unless they packed up early due to the weather.
That is correct. :thumbsup:
- Jun 21, 2016
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They finally listened to us @Disneyhead !
It’s about time. That was a huge element that they needed to add. Here’s hoping they add some more entertainment.
